Bill Heath, chief development officer at Practice Partners in Healthcare, in Birmingham, Ala., identifies four kinds of physicians who have not yet invested in an ASC and what it might take to persuade them to invest in your ASC.
1. Hasn't found the right time to invest. A young physician may still have medical school loans to pay off or has just bought a new home and has no money to invest. An older physician may be going through a divorce or just bought a new boat. Once they get some money freed up, they could be ready and willing to invest in a center. "In these cases, it's simply a matter of waiting for these physicians to be ready," Mr. Heath says.
2. Concerned about the risks of a start-up. These physicians may have previously rejected a start-up project because they were not convinced it would succeed. They might be more likely to buy into a center that is already in operation and is showing a return on investment. In fact, they might even be interested in a center that is just breaking even and simply needs the volume of one more physician to bring it into the black.
3. Solo or small group. These physicians have too little volume to start their own center and have been uncomfortable partnering with a competing group or with the hospital. The solution might be asking them to reconsider a partnership with the competing group and bringing in a third-party administrator to act as intermediary.
4. Already invested in an ASC and got burned. "These physicians were involved in a center that got in over its head," Mr. Heath says. It planned for twice the volume that it had and put in marble floors. It was so costly there was no way they could pay off the loan, and it went under." These physicians need a lot of assurances that things will turn out better this time around. "Give them the data they need, send them a financial plan," he says.
Learn more about Practice Partners in Healthcare.
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